Public Criminal Records
Free public criminal records searches are available through the authorities. This means the court houses and county and state data clearinghouses.
However, to gain access to a copy of the information you have found, you will need to pay a fee to cover the administrative costs of copying and posting the information to you.
This can be quite expensive, as court records tend to be quite large. And you have to pay for the whole thing, even if you are only interested in a part of it.
So, in reality there is no such thing as a truely free public criminal records search, as you do need to pay this processing fee.
However, to gain access to a copy of the information you have found, you will need to pay a fee to cover the administrative costs of copying and posting the information to you.
This can be quite expensive, as court records tend to be quite large. And you have to pay for the whole thing, even if you are only interested in a part of it.
So, in reality there is no such thing as a truely free public criminal records search, as you do need to pay this processing fee.
Cheap Public Criminal Records
There is an alternative that has become available, which is only made possible by the Internet.
Public records like court documents are being put onto computer databases all the time. With all this digital data out there, it was only a matter of time before someone had the bright idea to create a search engine to search through it all.
There are now special public criminal record search engines that are available to anyone for a small fee, which allow you to search for the criminal records online.
Click here to see which search engine I recommend.
Public records like court documents are being put onto computer databases all the time. With all this digital data out there, it was only a matter of time before someone had the bright idea to create a search engine to search through it all.
There are now special public criminal record search engines that are available to anyone for a small fee, which allow you to search for the criminal records online.
Click here to see which search engine I recommend.
Criminal Records Books
The Criminal Records Manual, 3rd Edition: Criminal Records in America: A Complete Guide to Legal, Ethical, and Public Policy Issues and Restrictions
Amazon Price: $18.96 (as of 07/09/2009) 
The Criminal Record Manual, 2nd Edition: The Complete National Reference for the Legal Access and Use of Criminal Records
Amazon Price: $28.95 (as of 07/09/2009)
How to Clear Your Adult and Juvenile Criminal Records
Amazon Price: (as of 07/09/2009)
Public Criminal Records Links
- Public Criminal Records Article
- A short article about public criminal records on the internet.
- Criminal Court Records Searches
- An article that tells you about criminal court records and how to search for them.
- Social Security Number Search
- An article about social security number search services, what they are good for and how to use them.
- Social Security Index Searches
- Social security index searches are used when researching family trees, amongst other uses.
- Social Security Death Records
- These resources are very useful when doing research for a local history project.
